Jeff of the Mushroom Kingdom
by Wolflord-Flintfang
Summary: Thirteen years after Bowsers last defeat all of the lands are at peace. In this new golden age one young mans desire to find love and adventure may be the salvation from a new and dangerous threat.


Disclaimer: All characters in this story are property of the Nintendo except Jeff and the Goombah brigade which are owned by me. All rights reserved by owners. Also be gentle, I'm getting used to writing regular stories again

**Jeff of the Mushroom Kingdom:**

_By Wolflord Hrathnar_

**Chapter 1 - 1**

**A long dreaded party**

As usually seemed to be the case the Castle seemed to be abuzz with activity. Toads ran to and fro at breakneck speeds weighed down by massive plates of food or decorations. In the main hall alone twenty different Toads worked feverishly to hang a large set of billowing blue and black streamers down the walls and around the doorways only for a particularly well dressed toad with a clip board to demand they once again move them higher or lower. Another five were gathered around the kitchen door where Mrs. Crimini arranged various plates to be taken up for tasting by the Queen. Even the local shop owners had been put to work by the party planner accepting a few gold coins to arrange the large bundles of gifts they had spent the morning transporting in from their shops. Had this been anywhere else such a party would be reserved for some sort of once in a lifetime event. But this was the Mushroom Kingdom, and those who lived here knew better.

This was especially true of the young boy standing in the corner of the palace watching all the activity. To tell the truth Jeff was utterly appalled to watch all of this lavished attention for something so temporary even after seeing it happen so often over the past twelve years. Even if the funds went back into the economy it seemed so wasteful to spend this much effort and energy on something so fleeting and pointless. Normally by this point he would be long gone from the castle and out into the town proper hours ago. This time though the prospect seemed to be a bit problematic.

"Master Jeffery!" a high pitched voice quipped out from the bottom of the stairway. Jeff looked down to see one of the overly excited toads quickly working his way up the stairs with a clip board clutched close to his stomach, thick glasses hanging awkwardly off his face. "Toad I told you, call me Jeff. No Master anything, No Jeffery, just Jeff." Toad winced at the prospect of something so against his nature and took a quick breath to focus on the task at hand rather than once again beginning an argument he knew would simply go nowhere. "I'm sorry, I was simply coming to inform you that your Mother wished to know if you were dressed yet. She was very animate about…" As if to emphasize his stance Jeff adjusted one of his fingerless brawler gloves and crossed his arms giving toad a defiant gaze. "Well I'm dressed, same as I always am. You can go tell mom this is what I'm wearing. Same blue shirt, Same black jeans, same gloves and same boots as I always wear. If mom really has that much of a problem with it then she can take the time and yell at me herself instead of delegating it." Toad looked on in shock and quickly scribbled down a few notes on the sheet. He hid it well but it was obvious that the man was afraid of the Queens wrath just as much as any of the kingdoms citizens. A few moments more though and he finally walked into the room again if only to help alleviate some of the advisors fears.

"Look, Toad I really just don't want to go though with this ok?" Jeff looked over at the puffy pants and blue vest laid out on his bed with a bit of resentment. It was one thing to force this kind of over the top party on him but Jeff was going to be damned if he was going to let his mother put him in those royal rags yet again and go out to make his mothers friends happy to see him paraded around as the bright and shining prince of the mushroom kingdom. Without another word Jeff began to walk slowly towards the open balcony and looked off in the distance at the town below, and even further off into the unknown. "My prince please, your mother is going to be cross with us. She put in far too much work for this party." That was the last straw. The young prince turned quickly to the adviser and pulled the clip board out of his hands tossing it hard against the wall. "Yeah well I'm tired of doing these kinds of things just so mom won't get upset. She can give all that crap down there to the needy and consider this my gift."

Without another word Jeff simply turned away and began walking towards the balcony once more his fists clenched in frustrated rage. The very second Jeffs foot hit the balcony however a knock came at the door. "Hello? Jeff? Itsa me, your papa. You in there?" It would have been so easy to simply continue. It would only take two steps and then nobody would be able to catch up to him. Unfortunately Jeff respected his father way too much to do this to him. "Yeah dad… I'm in here. I'm just, well…" The king slowly opened the door and peeked his head into the room. The years had been rather kind to the man. His deceptively strong body still as it had been in his prime though now totally hidden under the flashy red and blue robes and large crown of his station.

Without a single word about the apparent situation King Mario walked over to the bed and sat down next to the clothing that had been laid out for his son. "Jeff, were ya really thinking of taking off on your birthday of all days? You know how much time and effort your mama put into this don't ya?" Slowly Jeff began to walk back towards the bed as Toad quietly excused himself to the bedlam of the party planning. "Son, ya know that leaving now would break your poor Mama's heart. Thirteens a big year. Why when I was your age…" Mario quickly silenced himself as he looked over at the distraught figure of his thirteen year old son fiddling with the creases in his jeans. It seemed like for the past year Jeffery had grown farther and farther away from his parents. It was understandable on the one hand, after all he was growing up. That didn't make seeing the malaze any less upsetting.

Rather than continue his story the King simply slipped a green and yellow striped package into the birthday boys lap. Jeff took a long moment to just stair at it before half heartedly yanking off the bow and fiddling with the lid. "Look dad I know its big for everyone, I know mom put work into this. The truth is though I really don't want to sit though any of this. I don't want presents or cake or punch. I don't want to go to the go cart track or play baseball or anything else like that. All I really want to do is… Gah forget it you won't understand." Without another word Mario pulled the lid from the box and pulled out the contents, a simple blue cap with the letter J emboss inside of a white circle. "You want to go off like your old man huh? Don't thinka I don't know my bambino. You wana to get out and explore the world, have a few adventures. Maybe find a nice princess of your own huh?"

The old plumber simply gave the boy a knowing nudge and plopped the cap down on Jeffs head before the young man could react. "You seem to forget I was a young man too, and I wasn't always married to your mama. I did a lot of work to make sure that she would be safe. I wanted our children to be safe too. But I can't keep you from going out forever now can I? Sooner or later I'mma gonna have to accept that your becoming a man. Part of that is gonna mean that you'll have to make some hard decisions." Jeff took the hat off and looked at it for a long moment, tracing his finger over the brim of the cap. "Dad… I don't know what to say. Really…thanks." Mario simply picked the hat up once more and placed it back on the boys head firmly. "Thank Uncle Luigi and Aunt Daisy. You want Papas gift… your gonna have to go earn it." Jeff gave his father one last hug and then started to pace towards the balcony heart racing with excitement.

The prince of the Mushroom kingdom simply stood there for one last long moment. He knew just what would come of his departure and how everyone would feel the wrath of Queen Peach. Still with that grin on his fathers face beaming with overwhelming pride there really wasn't a choice in the matter anymore. Running forward headlong towards the balcony with a grin plastered on his face Prince Jeffery dashed off into his future with a resounding "WAHOOO!!!!"

=====**Chapter 1-2**=====

Jeff smirked a bit as he looked over the slightly dilapidated old house that his father and brother had shared so long ago. It felt rather odd coming back to this place after so long. As a child Jeff had often managed to sneak out and explore many of the places his father had once gone and see the places where he had his most epic battles. Naturally with all the major evils conquered it was perfectly safe to wander around these days. The worst people had to worry about would be the odd group of Delinquent koopas running off with one of Mrs. Crimini's pies while it cooled on the window sill. It was an amazing legacy that his father had left to the people of the Mushroom Kingdom that they could go to sleep at night without any sort of fear. It was also frustrating considering that King Mario had apparently used up all the adventure this world had to offer.

For now Jeff decided to take advantage of his vagabond status and walked around behind the house to a small spot with faded chalk letters scribbled onto a bare spot above the cellar door. "Well the old club house isn't much, but maybe it will be enough if I can't figure out some place to go yet. It might not be too bad so long as I can find a few people willing to get me supplies without telling mom." Jeff held on tight to his new hat with one hand and wrapped the other around the rusting metal handle in the hope that it was solid enough to pry apart the stiff hinges without ripping a chunk of the rotting wood off with it.

Everything looked to be more or less the same as it had been the last time Jeff had used his little improvised clubhouse. The small stone cellar was littered with chests and used blocks not to mention an abundance of piping that left only an eight by eight block of space in the center of the room. Without a moments hesitation Jeff grabbed the top off of one box and placed it on top of some pipes to form a quickly improvised table. From one of the pipes he drew out a small set of candles and a bag of candied mushrooms that were most likely painfully stale by now. Unfortunately the meager supplies of his childhood would have to do for now. Granted it wasn't like he was in some far off land where people would not know him and would be happy to let him starve but that didn't mean he wanted to survive that way. It would work well enough until he managed to find himself some sort of adventure, whenever that may be.

The next few hours passed rather peacefully save for the occasional string of curses that came when a box that once refused to move found its way onto Jeffs foot or gave him a new sliver to add to the growing collection in the young mans fingertips. Finally though a makeshift bed had been made and a few candles were lit leaving the rest of the evening to relax an formulate a plan, or at the very least think of some place to go. "Sarasaland!" The word seemed to bark down from the sky and hang in the air a moment before he knew what was going on. "But Boss what does something in the Mushroom kingdom have to do with Sarasaland? I mean that's way over in the east isn't it?" The second voice, a little deeper and clumsier than the first, was quickly silenced by a loud series of crashes from the ceiling above. "You numbskull. Don't you understand? The King of Sarasaland used to live right here in this house. That's why he had us come here to look for it. Now shut your big fat mouth and start looking though those drawers before I give you another one." Again the rumbling picked up from the ceiling as the owners of those two voices continued their work.

For a moment Jeff was rather disappointed by the fact that he had not been handed some sort of divine inspiration, but by this same token it seemed he finally had his opportunity. Even if these two were simple robbers odds were good that he could at least use this as some kind of jumping off point and that was all the motivation he needed. Without taking another moment to think the matter over the young Scion to the Mushroom Kingdom dashed headlong up the stairs and around the ill kept yard just in time to participate in a massive collision as he rounded the corner.

It was minutes later that the boy finally started to stir as he felt a large rounded foot prodding into his side repeatedly. "Say boss, you don't think that this is that scary guy we were warned about? I mean He's got the silly hat, and the gloves." Another crash shook the ground as the obvious leader of the two Goombas stared down his subordinate with his one good eye. "You idiot. This guy is not Mario. Look at him, he's got a blue shirt, and a goofy haircut, and this." Before the semiconscious boy could react the larger of the two Goombas snatched the hat up off of his head with one of those large teeth as they both started to laugh and passed the hat back and forth over Jeff's still body. This little game of keep away suddenly stopped as a hand reached up, grabbing on to the commanders eye patch and yanking hard.

"AH! A Zombie! Get him off Goomber get him off!" The second Goomba, slightly smaller than average and with a large unibrow, began to shove himself into his leader hard attempting to pry the eye patch free though sheer brute force. "Wait you idiot stop! What are you doing? Your going to…" The two went tumbling into a nearby stump as the band of the eye patch finally slipped from the back of his conical head still clutched in the hands of the young interloper. "Duh, sorry Commander Goombara." Goomber quipped nervously. "I was only tryin to help."

The two watched as the young boy pushed himself slowly out of the dirt bright blue eyes fixing on the larger of the two. For one brief moment Goombara felt a flash of terror washing over him, wondering why he was being singled out. "Nobody talks about my dad that way or takes my hat. I want it back." Jeff growled. "Now hand it over and maybe I'll let you go." Goombara was quite relieved when he was reminded that the hat was still in his clutches. With this newly realized bit of leverage the large Goomba took a step forward and started to laugh. "Your making threats to me? Maybe you don't realize who I am boy. I am Commander Goombara, leader of the Goomba Brigade. It was I who led the Goombas to victory in over a hundred campaigns against the Mushroom kingdom under the orders of Bowser. Do you really think that I'm going to be intimidated by some boy with a bad haircut?"

Commander Goombara looked on in shock for another moment as the boy started to rise up, now clutching the old Goombas eye patch in one hand. "I don't care if you're the right hand of Bowser himself. I want my hat back. Now." the other Goombas looked around for a moment as the young human boy stood up now and just took a confident step forward. "You really think you can beat the boss?" one of the rather generic looking monsters bellowed jumping up and down in a huff. "Yeah, Commander Goombara is the best. Nobody can beat him, or the Goomba Brigade!" As if on cue the entire group started to jump up and down chanting the name of their group in an annoying and off beat rhythm. The Commander took a quick look around a moment at the other troops who were thankfully too vapid to realize his previous threats were a bluff. "Fine if you think you're a threat to us then you should have no problem retrieving your hat. Goomba Brigade, move out." Without giving Jeff any time to protest the eleven Goombas quickly jumped up and filed off though the bushes. "Hay!" the young prince screamed as he threw the eye patch down at his feet and quickly gave chase. "Come back here with my hat."

=====** Chapter 1-3** =====

For whatever the Goombas may have lacked in courage or strength they seemed to more than make up for it with speed. After five minutes of plowing though the underbrush and avoiding the various gullies and pitfalls Jeff began to wonder just how his father managed to do this kind of thing over and over again for so many years. It always looked so much easier when he jumped around the castle grounds. Thankfully though Jeff seemed to have a bit more stamina than the Goombas he was chasing and every large bound seemed to bring him closer to the annoying chants and stomping feet. Renewed by the prospect of catching up he continued on full boar over a nearby chasm and then jumping headlong into the bushes, arms outstretched to catch anything that might be directly in front of him. Every member of the Goomba Brigade watched as the blue and black blur darted out at them like a wild panther and smashed head first into a nearby block.

Commander Goombara walked forward confidently and placed another hard kick into Jeffs rib cage even as he dangled the hat over his face. "Ha! Serves you right for making trouble for the Brigade boy. Number eight, Number four, teach this would be Hero a lesson." Dazed and disoriented from his second blow to the head in what could only have been ten minutes Jeff could do little more than cover his face as the two Goomba troops took turns delivering rather annoying blows. It was about at this point that Jeff began to wonder if overly formulaic shtick was really something that went hand in hand with these kinds of adventures or if he was just unlucky enough to wind up the victim of some exceptionally inept wannabes. Inept or not though they still seemed to be doing quite well with ganging up on him, each one jumping in just as he was about to push himself up and struggling to hold him down. Everything was starting to go black for the young prince, and for some reason as he reached up to find a handhold it started to feel very cold.

"That's enough boys." Goombara grumbled as he watched the ten other Goombas lining up in a rather poor mockery of military precision. Goombara quickly gave the troops a paced in front of his men a few times with his chest oddly puffed forward. "Good work boys, but we don't need to be wasting our time now. We have to make our way to Sarasaland and rendezvous with the others. We'll all be in for it if we meet with another delay, even one as minor as this. Lets move people we're on a time table." The assembled Goombas quickly gave a snap of attention before the chanting started up again, growing louder and more energetic than before.

Part of the battered prince wanted more than anything to just pull himself up and beat the snot out of every one of those Goomba right then and there. With his head still spinning though Jeff was finding it difficult to even figure out if the chanting was real or simply another figment of his imagination. Everything simply felt rather fuzzy after so many blows to the head. It took several moments before he even realized that his hand had managed to land on the block that had most likely caused the brunt of his current injury. Oddly while most of his senses were slowly returning Jeff still felt an odd cold sensation tingling up his outstretched arm and almost painfully chilling his fingers. "What in the world is going on? Why is it so…" Looking up again he noticed a small brim of translucent blue petals peeking themselves out over the edge of the block. Quickly his hand darted up to meet the object which seemed to evaporate even as he plucked it. "Ah now this is what I need." he said slowly starting to stand. "An Ice flower."

Each member of the Goomba brigade began to pace backwards in a military precision they had not yet displayed. The young man now standing before them seemed different than before. His blue shirt and black jeans had apparently switched colors, as had the black gloves on his hands which now seemed to steam like dry ice. "All you had to do was give me my hat back. Just remember that. You just had to drop the hat and walk away." Instantly two of the Goombas began to charge, only to stop as they were struck by swirling spheres of ice and snow.

Jeff walked casually past the first two ice statues with his eyes still fixed on Goombara. The troops began to pace around him quickly with that same awkward excuse for military precision, feet clambering around on the dirt waiting for an opening in his defenses. The first one to attack lept out from behind with a snarl only to be backhanded off to the side. The remaining Goombas looked on in a rage before leaping at once towards their opponent heads all pointed out like large blunt missiles. A grin crossed Jeffs face as he simply jumped up an instant before they would connect, watching the seven remaining Goombas smashing their heads together and falling to the ground in a clump. They all looked up in time to see a shower of freezing ice as four of them were frozen on the spot even before their adversary began to fall again. Without a word the prince simply landed on two more of his foes and looked down at Goomber with a slight smirk of satisfaction ice swirling around his now open palm.

Goombara's jaw dropped as he watched the near instantaneous devastation of his entire unit without so much as a sweat broken by the young boy. "Goomber!" he grumbled spitting the hat out. "Enough toying with the boy. We need to, uh, go get my eye patch before the train comes. Yeah." Without a word Goomber quickly ran behind the larger Goomba like a beaten dog eyes fixed on Jeff's hand. "Consider yourself lucky this time boy. Next time you shall feel the true wrath of the Goomba Brigade." With the rather weak threat still lingering in the air the two remaining Goombas disappeared into the bushes as Jeff walked forward and picked up the slightly wrinkled blue hat, watching it instantly shift to black. "God… Why couldn't I fight any cool enemies like dad used to have?" he quipped turning around and slowly walking along towards the Toad town train station.

That night found Jeff tucked away under a train car, looking out at the bright moonlight as it shone down on the quickly passing scenery. He was finally on his way, out on his own in this world with a real adventure of his own. "Thanks again dad… I really hope you don't get it too bad from mom. I promise I'll get to the bottom of this. I'll save uncle Luigi and aunt Daisy and put an end to whatever's going wrong." Pulling his hat over his face Jeff attempted to find a comfortable spot to sleep out the majority of the long ride. By the time he awake he knew he would be on his way into a brand new adventure in a land where nobody would fawn over him or coddle him. A land where he would make a name for himself and find his own princess, even if she wasn't one.


End file.
